NIGHTMARE 



4236 



NIHILISTS AND NIHILISM 



of her real need of m used it to found 



the Nightingale Home for Nurses ut 

 Thomas Hospital in London. Though confined 

 much of the time to her room, she continued 

 to supervise hospital undertakings in Great 

 Britain and other European countries, was con- 

 sulted officially during the War of Secession in 

 the United States, the Franco-German War 

 and the Spanish-American War, and wrote nu- 

 merous articles and hooks upon the subject she 



30 thoroughly mastered. 



Probably no other woman in the history of 



the world equaled her in the alleviation of 



suffering and distress. Innumerable tributes to 



re written, but doubtless the most beau- 



tiful was that of Longfellow in his poem, Santa 



E.D.F. 



Consult Matheson's Florence Nightingale, a 

 liinyraphy; Nutting and Dock's History of Nurs- 

 ing. 



NIGHT 'MARE. Almost everyone knows by 

 experience the distressing sensations of night- 

 mare the feeling of oppression, inability to 

 move -or speak, overwhelming fear, etc. Little 

 children who waken at night screaming .and 

 trembling are suffering from a form of night- 

 man 1 . though in these cases the disorder is gen- 

 erally called night-terrors. 



Nightmare is usually caused by digestive dis- 

 turbance, but may arise from disorders of the 

 circulation or the breathing process. Prolonged 

 mental stress or overwork may cause it in peo- 

 I>1< who are naturally nervous. When night- 

 mare comes from eating heavily before retiring, 

 the victim has the remedy in his own -hands. 

 ta should not permit their children to 

 listen to tales of horror or ghost stories before 

 he. It i me, especially if the children are of nerv- 

 ous temperament. 



The word nightmare has an interesting deri- 

 vation. Mare was originally applied to an evil 

 spirit that oppressed people at night while 

 they were asleep, and the Anglo-Saxon root 

 from which it is derived means crusher. 



NIGHT SCHOOLS. See SCHOOL, under sub- 

 head Evening School*. 



NIGHT 'SHADE, the name given to a large 

 number of ill-smelling herbs, whose leaves re- 

 semble those of the violet in shape, and some 

 of which have a soothing effect upon the nerves. 

 There are about 1,500 species of these plants, 

 and they are found growing in damp woods 

 and fields and along shady banks, chiefly in 

 Southern and Central America, never in very 

 cold regions. They have, in general, slender 

 stems, clustered small white flowers and bluish 



berries, many of them being poisonous. One 

 of the latter sort, the deadly nightshade, some- 

 times called belladonna, was supposed to have 

 sprung from the foam which dripped from the 

 savage jaws of Cerberus, Pluto's three-headed 

 dog (see C E n - 

 BEKUS). Oth 

 well - known spe- 

 cies of nightshade 

 are woody, black 

 and enchanter's, 



NIHILISTS 

 AND NIHILISM, 

 nl' hi lists, ni' hi 

 liz'm. Nihilism is 

 the name given 

 by the Russian 

 writer Turge- 

 nieff (about 

 1860), to the doc- 

 trines taught by 

 the social agita- 

 tors of his day, 

 who wished to 

 overthrow society 

 as it then existed 

 and reorganize it 

 in accordance with WOODY NIGHTSHADE 

 their theories. These social agitators were 

 called Nihilists. 



At first, nihilism was a philosophical and lit- 

 erary movement. Its adherents deemed it nec- 

 essary to free themselves from every form of 

 dependence on generally accepted beliefs. In 

 religion, this movement was frankly atheistic 

 (see ATHEISM) ; in science, it supported evolu- 

 tion and the newer teachings of the day; in 

 social affairs, it taught the complete equality 

 of the sexes; in government, it insisted on the 

 necessity of thoroughgoing changes in every 

 department. It was inevitable that people im- 

 bued with such ideas should eagerly accept the 

 doctrines of socialism, then meeting with great 

 favor in Western Europe; accordingly, nihilism 

 speedily entered on its second or socialistic 

 stage. 



When one considers the condition of affairs 

 in Russia, it is not surprising that the move- 

 ment passed under the control of the revolu- 

 tionary or radical wing of socialism. Numer- 

 ous societies were formed to spread these teach- 

 ings among the workmen and the peasant classes. 

 The members were fanatical in the earnestness 

 which they displayed in this cause. Young 

 people of both sexes, members of wealthy and 

 aristocratic families, gave up all to spread! their 



